The present invention relates to disposable absorbent articles, such as those used as personal care products, and more particularly to such a disposable absorbent article having containment flaps for improved containment of liquid body waste.
Disposable absorbent articles find widespread use as personal care products such as diapers, children's toilet training pants, adult incontinence garments, sanitary napkins and the like, as well as surgical bandages and sponges. These articles absorb and contain body waste and are intended to be discarded after a limited period of use; i.e., the articles are not intended to be laundered or otherwise restored for reuse. Conventional disposable absorbent articles comprise an absorbent body disposed between a liner adapted for contacting the wearer's skin and an outer cover for inhibiting liquid body waste absorbed by the absorbent body from leaking out of the article. The liner of the absorbent article is typically liquid permeable to permit liquid body waste to pass therethrough for absorption by the absorbent body.
Desired performance objectives of these disposable absorbent articles include little or no leakage from the article and a dry feel to the wearer. However, some available disposable absorbent articles may fail to inhibit leakage, even where the total absorbent capacity of the absorbent body is unrealized. Leakage can result from an insufficient rate of liquid body waste passing through the liner of the article or from an insufficient rate of absorption by the absorbent body, especially upon the occurrence of a second or even third surge of liquid body waste. For example, in diapers and children's training pants, a surge of urine flowing laterally outward toward opposite edges of the article may not penetrate through the liner of the article or be absorbed by the absorbent body at a rate sufficient to prevent some of the urine from leaking out between the wearer's skin and the opposite edges of the article.
One attempt to eliminate such leakage is the provision of a pair of longitudinally extending (e.g., front-to-back) containment flaps on the liner of the article. The containment flaps are typically spaced laterally from each other and positioned inward from the opposite edges of the article, particularly in the crotch area of diapers and training pants. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,895,382 discloses containment flaps for training pants in which the flaps each include a liquid permeable outer layer and a liquid impermeable inner layer. Elastic members are held between the outer and inner layers at the distal end of each flap to bias the flaps toward a generally upright position away from the liner of the article. The outer layer of the flap is folded over a small portion of the inner layer at the distal end of the flap to enclose the elastic members within the flap.
These containment flaps are intended to provide a barrier against the laterally outward flow of liquid body waste toward the edges of the article. In practice, however, leakage may still occur if a surge of liquid waste is released by the wearer because the absorbent article may not absorb the liquid at a rate sufficient to avoid substantial outward flow against the flaps, which may result in flow over the containment flaps and subsequent leakage from the edges of the article.
Therefore, despite the improved body waste containment obtained by providing conventional containment flaps, there continues to be a need for further improvements to inhibit leakage from disposable absorbent articles resulting from surges of liquid body waste rushing laterally outward over the containment flaps.